In response to the sacrifice of these young Canadians, the French government gave 260 acres to Canada in perpetuity to create a memorial to those who fought and died and to build the spectacular monument on hill 145 of Vimy Ridge to pay tribute to those who risked or gave their lives at Vimy and the many Battles of the Somme.

As they grew old, and faced their deaths, most of what had happened in the decades since their war seemed to recede, fade, lose shape and colour -- and the hard kernels of dastardly memory grounded in those intense weeks and months in Europe was all that remained.